Are they singing to the statues?

Half a dozen people in red pointed hats with white balls on the top. Hanging out together around an art installation of 7 foot tall statues next to English Bay beach. We couldn't tell for sure from our table inside Raincity Grill, but I think they were singing Christmas Carols to the statues.

It was Christmas Eve, so that's the last day carolers would be wandering around annoying people with off-key renditions of old worn-out songs. But would the statues be enjoying it? The statues look like they are made of a metal of some sort, so maybe the music would resonate quite nicely around the circle of statues.

Of course, if the carolers had vivid imaginations, that could be quite frightening. Voices echoing off 7 foot tall semi-human versions of fierce ball players. No, that one in the corner of your eye didn't move, really, it didn't. It's just shadows from car lights, it's just dark out, so you notice it more. Very dark. No snow on the ground, it's not raining, there aren't many stars out, but the moon is a half-crescent. The clouds passing in front of the moon aren't scary, and the coyotes that live around here are probably sleeping, not hunting.

And don't worry, people always drive that badly, they aren't drunk during this time of the year... none of those cars are going to careen into the open field and hit the statues and the carolers, really. I'm just an alarmist, sitting in a restaurant watching extremely bad driving outside the window I'm sitting at. Really.

Singing to the statues sounded nice at first blush, but an overactive imagination could make a horror story out of it!

Did we just get transported to a war zone?

Honk.

Honk. Honk. HOOOOONK.

Sirens, sirens, more sirens.

It sounds like we've been transported to a war zone. Our wonderfully livable downtown Vancouver is now a battle ground.

Canadians generally feel it's rather rude to honk their car horns. A brief tap if someone is sitting at a light that went green several seconds ago is about as much as we venture to do.

But it's Christmas. So damn the politeness, honk the horn. Forget counting to 10 before getting angry. Get into that car with the intention of beating everyone to wherever they are going. Shop, shop, shop until you've bloodied at least one nose getting what you want. Grab whatever you can reach because you can, whether you want it or not. Hit as many other people with your bags as you can reach.

'Tis the season... to be nasty... it will be over soon, we bloody well hope.

Is it that time already?

We received our first Christmas card yesterday. It's only Dec 3! Good grief, is it the end of the year already?

The month of December is our stay away from the stores, except to buy food month. The shopping for stuff insanity is just too annoying for words. It's just so depressing to see so many grumpy people frowning and arguing with each other. So the Christmas cheer - which is really a snarl - is not something we participate in.

We do send out cards and newsletter-type updates at the end of the year, but we always wish people a happy new year instead of trying to figure out who is following which religion this year. We really do wish people will have a happy new year, so there is no false cheeriness we have to put on just because society wants us to.

We're such rebels - which smiley face is the one where the eyes roll up? Hmm, you'll just have to picture it in your mind, blogger doesn't seem to do emoticons.